Articles in Category: Managing Email

Articles discussing how to manage email – from creating accounts, filing messages, and just generally using email effectively.

A magnifying glass hovering over a Thunderbird email client logo, with a series of footsteps leading from the logo to an illustrated folder labeled "Profiles."

What Is the Thunderbird Email File Location in Windows?

Thunderbird stores everything in what it calls a profile. I’ll show you how to locate yours.

A photorealistic image representing the concept of the irreversibility of sending an email. The scene is set in an office environment, where a person is sitting in front of a computer, their expression a mix of surprise and regret. The computer screen displays a generic email interface, with a sent message confirmation visible. The atmosphere conveys a moment of realization that once an email is sent, it's out of one's control. The room is well-lit, showcasing the office setting with modern furniture and technology, emphasizing the professional context in which email communication often takes place.

Can I Recall an Email From Gmail or Outlook.com?

You may have heard of a feature called “message recall”. For all intents and purposes, it’s not real.

A cartoon-style image representing email transfer between two email providers. Between them, a smooth flow of cartoonish email envelopes, creating a visual path from one to the other. The envelopes should appear as if they are moving seamlessly, symbolizing an easy transfer process. The background is a digital, abstract representation of data transfer, with subtle lines and nodes connecting the two logos, further emphasizing the idea of seamless integration and transition of emails.

How Do I Move Emails From One Account to Another?

Moving email from one account to another just takes some configurating and drag-and-dropping.

Show in IMAP setting.

Why Are My Mail Folders Not Showing In Outlook?

You’ve got your online email nicely organized into folders. Then you move to a desktop program, and none of the folders come with you. What now?

About Thunderbird

Thunderbird: a Free, Open Source, and Powerful Email Client

Thunderbird is a robust and powerful email program that can meet the needs of both light and power users. I use it all day every day.

Email Mailbox (conceptual)

How Do I Change My Email Name?

Changing your email name is usually easy, but changing your email address involves setting up a new account.

Undo

How Does “Undo Send” Work?

Gmail and other email services offer the ability to “undo” an email. I’ll look at how it works and why it’s not what people expect.

Return to Sender

Will Email Bounce If I Send It to a Closed Account?

If you send email to an invalid address or a closed account, you may get a bounce back. You just can’t count on it.

Old to New (symbolic)

How Do I Forward My Old Email Address?

A few email providers have an email-forwarding feature, but most do not. If available, forwarding only works as long as you continue to own the original account.

Frustrated computer users. Perhaps he just lost his email account.

How Can I Avoid Losing My Business Email Account?

Losing your business email account can have dire repercussions. I’ll show you how to protect yourself.

Email Mailbox (conceptual)

What are POP3, IMAP, and SMTP?

POP, POP3, IMAP, and SMTP are all acronyms used in configuring email. We’ll look at what they mean and how they relate.

Reply Button

How Do I Edit a Reply?

Edit a reply before sending it. Clean up your message, remove email addresses, and more.

Searching Email

How Do I Find Where My Email Has Been Used as a Recovery Email?

Turns out that finding all the places you’ve used your email address as a recovery address is close to impossible.

Delete!

How Do I Delete Multiple Emails When I Have a Lot to Delete?

It can be a challenge to delete multiple emails. I’ll look at some of the concepts and techniques used by various email programs to make it easier.

Petition

Why Online Petitions are Often (and Still) a Bad Idea

Internet and online petitions seem like a quick and easy way to make a statement. Unfortunately, they’re often ineffectual, and at worst, they do harm.

My single, truly focused, Inbox

All the Emails in My Inbox Disappeared! What Do I Do?

I get reports of people who have lost the contents of their inbox. We’ll look at a couple of common causes and resolutions.

Emakil w/ Attachment

Why Do Edits Made to a Document Emailed to Me Disappear?

Changes you’ve made to a document that was emailed to you can easily disappear. Let’s avoid that.

New Email

How Do I Keep My Email Address When I Change My ISP?

It’s possible to have an email address that does not need to change each time you change internet providers.

Closed!

How Do I Reactivate an Old Email Account?

A closed email account is either waiting for you to reactivate it or is closed for good. The only way to tell is to try.

Syncing email to a garbage can.

Be Careful Deleting Email If You Use IMAP

When an email account is configured to use IMAP protocol, it’s easy to accidentally delete more than you realize.

People / Contacts / Address Book

The Frustration of Email Contacts Backup and Transfer

Address book contacts suffer from a lack of standardization, particularly when it comes to synchronizing or transferring between systems.

New Email

How Do I Change My Email Address?

Changing an email address involves changing more than just the address. I’ll look at common scenarios and a few additional approaches.

Sending Email

How Do I Hide the Email Address I’m Sending Email To?

It’s possible to send email to someone without having their email address show up on the To: or CC: lines by using Blind Carbon Copy, or BCC.

Oops!

If I Send to a Bad Email Address, Will Someone See It?

People often send email to the wrong address by mistake. But what happens if the email address is invalid?

Prompting for a password.

Outlook Keeps Asking for Password — Why?

When your email program starts repeatedly asking you for your password, it’s a sign of a problem. Most of the time, it’s a simple problem.

A "pile" of email.

Can I Have Two Different Email Accounts with the Same Email Address?

Having multiple email accounts with the same email address is not possible, and may reflect a misunderstanding of how addresses and accounts relate.

Couldn't Find Your Google Account!

Will I Lose My Email If I Don’t Check It for a While?

It’s important to check and possibly download your email from time to time so that you won’t lose email, or even the entire account.

Undo button

Can I Stop or ‘Un-send’ an Email I Sent by Mistake?

Once you hit that Send button, you must assume there is no way to stop your email from being sent . . . even if it’s to the wrong person.

Mailbox Unavailable Error

What Does the “Mailbox Unavailable” Error Mean and How Do I Fix It?

“Mailbox unavailable” is a common email bounce message that tells us very little. I’ll review some of the more common causes of “mailbox unavailable”.

POP3

Tip of the Day: Consider POP3

An elephantine attachment.

How to Email Large Files Using Any Email Program or Service

Emailing large attachments is typically a bad idea, as your mail may not be delivered. I’ll look at alternatives.

Email

How to Move Email Messages to Another Account

When changing email providers, old email can be difficult to move. I’ll look at some of the options.

To: Wrong Address @ Wrong Place

How Do I Remove Invalid Email Addresses from Auto-fill?

This is all about the many ways your computer tries to make your life easier. Sometimes it tries just a little too hard.

No Spam

Why Shouldn’t I Use the “Report Spam” or “Junk” Button?

The “Report Spam” and “Junk” buttons serve an important function in the war against spam. However, used improperly they can do more harm than good.

What The ???!!!!

My Email Disappeared While Composing. Can I Get it Back?

It’s no fun to write a long email and lose it. Here’s how that happens and a few ways to avoid it.

The ubiquitous email at sign.

How Should I Back Up Email?

Configuring a PC-based email program to use IMAP and have it constantly download email as a backup is a reasonable way to go.

Password Protected

How Do I Password Protect Email Attachments?

Some documents are sensitive enough to warrant encryption to protect the contents. How do you email them?

Inbox Full

Why Does Email to Me Bounce with “Inbox Full”?

When you use a desktop email program, it’s possible for the inbox on your PC to be empty, but the inbox on your email service provider to be full.

Worry. It rarely helps.

Should I Worry About Old Lost Email Accounts?

That old account you lost probably won’t come back to haunt you, but it’s wise to take some action and keep your guard up.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Back Up Your Email Using Thunderbird

Using a desktop email program to back up email avoids potential data loss. I’ll show you how using Outlook.com and Thunderbird as examples.

Return to Sender

Did My Bounced Message Get There?

When an email message comes back to you because of a problem, exactly who did or did not get the message can be confusing.

Overflowing Email Bin

Are Deleted Emails Really Deleted?

“Permanently deleted” email may or may not be recoverable. Depending on the situation and motivation, that email could come back to haunt or help you.

Email

Why Do Pictures in Email Sometimes Show as Attachments, and Sometimes in the Message?

Pictures in email don’t always display. The reasons are varied and confusing, but I’ll review the three most common causes of problems and what you need to do.

Can I Tell If Someone Blocked My Texts and Email?

Can I Tell If Someone Blocked My Texts and Email?

Email and texting usually works, but when it doesn’t, there’s just no way to tell if someone has blocked you.

How Do I Find Someone’s Email Address?

How Do I Find Someone’s Email Address?

It can be extremely difficult to find the email address of someone you want to contact. To begin with, they must want to be found.

It's In There Somewhere!

Can I Recover Deleted Emails in Gmail I Deleted Three Years Ago?

Email deleted “a long time ago” can be impossible to recover from the provider and difficult to recover from anywhere else.

A Deleted Email Account

Will My Email Be There If I Reactivate a Deleted Account? Don’t Count On It

When you delete an account, the provider may not keep its contents in case you want to reactivate the deleted account. I have an alternative suggestion.

Bouncing Email

Why Does Email I Send Fail But a Reply Works?

When email you send bounces, that can mean many things. If a reply to that same person works, there’s almost certainly a problem with the email address you’re sending to.

Computer at the data center

Does Emptying Trash in Email Keep Others from Seeing My Deleted Email?

Most of us aren’t able to access emails we’ve deleted, but that doesn’t mean someone at the email provider can’t.

A cauldron overflowing with email.

What Does “Over Quota” Mean? What’s a Quota?

Being over quota means you’ve received or kept too much email. To deal with it, you need to understand where that email is being kept.